Silures - Romanization

Romanization

To aid the Roman administration in keeping down local opposition, a legionary fortress (Isca, later Caerleon) was planted in the midst of tribal territory.

The town of Venta Silurum (Caerwent, six miles west of Chepstow) was established in AD 75. It became a Romanized town, not unlike Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester), but smaller. An inscription shows that under the Roman Empire it was the capital of the Silures, whose ordo (local council) provided local government for the district. Its massive Roman walls still survive, and excavations have revealed a forum, a temple, baths, amphitheatre, shops, and many comfortable houses with mosaic floors, etc. In the late first and early second centuries, the Silures were given some nominal independence and responsibility for local administration. As was standard practice, as revealed by inscriptions, the Romans matched their deities with local Silurian ones, and the local deity Ocelus was identified with Mars, the Roman god of war.

Caerwent seems to have continued in use in the post-Roman period as a religious centre and the territory of the Silures later became the Welsh Kingdom of Gwent, Brycheiniog, Gwynllŵg and Glamorgan. Some theories concerning King Arthur make him a leader in this area. There is evidence of cultural continuity throughout the Roman period, from the Silures to the kingdom of Gwent in particular, as shown by leaders of Gwent using the name "Caradoc" in remembrance of the British hero Caratacus

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